Tokyo stocks down for third straight session on Facebook breach
TOKYO: Tokyo stocks fell for the third straight session yesterday as high-tech shares faced selling pressure after a Facebook data breach scandal sent US stocks sharply down.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.47 per cent or 99.93 points to close at 21,380.97, while the broader Topix index was down 0.21 per cent or 3.68 points at 1,716.29.
“High-tech shares were hit by the data breach at Facebook,” said Hikaru Sato, senior technical analyst at Daiwa Securities.
“We are paying attention to New York tomorrow to check if this selling sentiment is temporary or not,” Sato told AFP.
On Wall Street, technology companies tumbled Monday following reports that the data analysis firm hired by Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign stole information from 50 million Facebook user profiles to help design software to predict and influence voters’ choices.
The scandal sparked worries that it will lead to a regulatory crackdown on technology companies.
In Tokyo trade, buying on dips was limited before a public holiday in Japan on Wednesday as well as the US central bank’s policy meeting to be wrapped up Wednesday, brokers said.
Factory-automation equipment maker Fanuc plunged 3.28 per cent to 25,920 yen while telecom carrier and IT investor SoftBank Group fell 0.83 per cent to 8,554 yen.
Sony fell 0.11 per cent to 5,138 yen and Panasonic edged down 0.09 per cent to 1,647 yen.
The dollar was trading at 106.33 yen against 106.10 yen in New York on Monday. — AFP